The Day Favre Came to Hunting Camp

There are two things in Northern WI that you will never change. Rifle season is Holy week and, we love the Green Bay Packers.  So the year that we got the word that Brett Favre was coming to camp, it was like a dream come true for our hunting crew.

It started off as a usual hunting season. Our group is to big to house in one place, so the Adermans and the Koels, stay at their shack (a.k.a the “Happy Family Cabin”) which is just down the road from our shack (a.k.a. my aunts basement). The rest of the guys i.e. the two Patko families, live in the area and stay at their homes. On the Friday before season, it is a tradition that we all converge on the “Happy Family Cabin” to have a few beers, (third thing about WI, we love beer) catch up on what everyone has been doing throughout the year, and strategize about where we will be going the next morning. We generally hunt on land that is owned by Butch Johnson of Johnson Timber and Futurewood, and it adjoins the Summit Lake Game Farm which is also owned by Johnson.

6:00 p.m. rolls around and the people in the crew start arriving. The regular banter is going on and guys/gals are greeting each other. The noise level is at a dull roar. Hunters/Huntresses are almost giddy as “the season” starts the next. The young guys are scrapping in the yard and burning off some of the extra energy they have. There’s lots of handshakes and backslapping going on. It is the normal, total chaotic transition, but everyone loves it. We have waited an entire year for this week.

By now, everyone that is old enough, has found their favorite flavor of beer (another thing about WI we love our beer) and is settling in for the big “discussion”. It most always starts out the same way each year. Someone, out of respect, starts by asking the “Grey Beards”, where they would like to start in the morning. They usually defer to the younger, 40 something “salt and pepper” group, stating they are just glad to be in the woods and don’t really care. DJ Aderman, President for Futurewood Corp, a division of Johnson Timber, normally gives the status on the land that adjoins the perimeter of Summit Lake Game Farm, and what parts we are permitted to hunt on, what is expected of us,  and what they have been seeing throughout the fall. This year, he had a unmistakably mischievous grin on his face and little twinkle in his eye that could not go undetected.

He started out giving us his diclaimer, and the following news. ”I can’t say for sure, but there is a chance, that Brett Favre, Mark Chamura, and Jeff Dellenbach of the Green Bay Packers, as well as WI Gov. Tommy Thompson, may be hunting at Summit Lake after the Packer/Viking game on Sunday”. He went on to say, that “Butch Johnson, the owner of Summit Lake Game Farms and Johnson Timber, is probably going to invite us to do some drives in the farm area and meet the guys. However it cannot be made public until after it happens.”

At first we were simply stunned. Sitting ther silently wondering, is he joking? Then all hell broke loose, every adult in the room turn into a little kid, chattering and gigling about the news we had received. Unbelievable, we are going to get to meet Brett Favre and hunt with him. I don’t know who was more excited, the kids or the “Grey Beards”! I do know, however, that nobody slept and it dang near killed everyone not to tell!

Season continued, and we did our usual hunting, harvesting several nice bucks and waiting for the big day to arrive. Finally, we get the word that they would like us to be there on Tuesday.

Monday night I know nobody slept again . Tuesday morning we headed down to Summit Lake. It is about a twenty minute ride from where we meet in the morning. We arrived very early, with our parade of 8 or so 4 wheel drive pickup trucks, to the parking lot at the Summit Lake game farm. We stood around in nervous silence pacing or kicking stones with our feet. We felt like bunch of little kids waiting to see Santa. In the meantime DJ checked went into the lodge to check out the situation. One of the guys looked at me with a very confused look and said “Are you wearing…make-up?” something that was unusual for me while hunting. I retorted back, “Of course I am, are you stupid! We are going to meet Brett Favre!” That started the others rolling and seemed to beak the tension a bit.

 My sister Lori and I went in first and were introduced to Favre, Dellenbach and Thompson. Chamura had been injured and had to leave to go to physical therapy.  Favre’s hair was a mess and he was wearing jeans and a shirt with cut off sleeves. He looked just like anyone else would, in the morning, at hunting camp. (This was back in his drinking days and they had gone out on the town the night before, but that is a whole different story).

We started chatting with him and what amazed me immediately,was that he was just an ordinary guy, just joking around. (Except that he is Brett and he is gorgeous! Lol) Everyone then walked out to the parking lot and Brett was introduced to the rest of the crew. Mysteriously people had Packer shirts and souvenir with them, stuffed in pockets and behind truck seats, and he graciously signed them. We took lots of group photos and joked around for a short time.

Brett and the other guys were loaded up in trucks and SUV’s to go out to the stands, while we did drives on the property to encourage the deer to head their direction for the remainder of the day. After a fun day of hunting we headed back to the lodge. The only one that had had a successful deer hunt was Favres agent, and he took a doe.

Brett’s hair still a mess, he was now in a blaze orange jacket and was chowing on, as he put it “some pretty good dingle-berry pie”. There were lots of snacks and more WI beverages while we all sat around and listened to, or told stories about the hunt. It was pretty much like every other night after hunting hours only way different! Brett listened and laughed and told his stories right along with the rest of us.

Soon the  local game warden arrived. She had heard that Favre was there so she just happened to stop by to check the game tags on deer and register them. She also wanted her picture taken with the quarterback and he obliged. He would not however wear the handcuff she asked him to wear. As he was standing there just after the picture, he turned and looked straight-faced at one of the guys and said “Hey Roscoe, what did you do with that bear you shot today?” He knew full well it is illegal to take a bear during deer season and that the warden would start questioning the poor guy!

Well the whole group including Brett, errupted in a fit of laughter, while Roscoe sat there stammering and stuttering and trying to explain to the warden that there was no bear, nor had there ever been one, and he certainly hadn’t shot one! That was a moment that is forever etched in our minds. He was just like one of us!

He continued to sign autographs on shirts, dollar bills, back tags, hats and whatever else we could come up with til late in the evening. He was such fun to get to know as a person and never acted like he was any better than any of us. His attitude of having fun and being able to relate, is the reason so many Packer Fans fell in love with him. He is just one of the guys.

The smiles on the faces of our crew were priceless. That day forever seared into our memories. He is welcome to come anytime and hunt with us or just shoot the bull (not the bear). We have many great pictures and very fond memories of the day “Brett Favre came to hunting camp!